Monday, June 20, 2005

Patient Simulator Saves Lives

Nursing students practice on robotCarmen Greco JrPublished June 19, 2005

CHICAGO HEIGHTS -- The pulse was elevated, the breathing rapid, and the figure on the gurney seemed on the verge of cardiac arrest. That's when the nursing students stepped in.

"Has your pain been relieved?" one asked the uncannily human-like robot on the gurney.

"No, I've never had pain like this before," it responded.

Thinking quickly, the Prairie State College students administered a milligram of morphine to ease "SimMan's" distress before trying to stabilize him, drawing approval from teaching assistant Auggie Bamonti.

"The first time we did this, someone gave him 40 milligrams of morphine," Bamonti said, noting the result would be lethal.

Fortunately, SimMan is wired to endure a thousand classroom deaths, all in the name of medical science.

He arrived at the Chicago Heights college's nursing school earlier this year, a $30,000 state-of-the-art creation that simulates real-life medical conditions

SimMan is the latest innovation of Norway-based Laerdal Co., which introduced "Resusci Anne" in the 1950s, a widely used, lifelike mannequin designed to teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. SimMan is a high-tech descendant, simulating everything from human breathing and heart disease to allergic reaction and change in pulse rate and blood pressure.